Las Vegas Weekly

May 4, 2010 · 10:15 AM

Photos: 51 Miss USA Pageant hopefuls welcomed at Planet Hollywood

By Robin Leach

The 2010 Miss USA Pageant contestants are officially welcomed at Planet Hollywood on May 4, 2010.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Reigning Miss USA Kristen Dalton welcomes the 51 contestants of the 2010 Miss USA Pageant today to Planet Hollywood, and fans can meet all of them this afternoon outside the hotel on the Strip for the official 5 p.m. Las Vegas welcome.

On hand will be Paula Shugart, Miss Universe president; Terry Jicinsky, Senior VP of Marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; and Marilyn Winn, president of Bally’s, Paris and Planet Hollywood. It’s the third consecutive year that Donald Trump’s pageant has been held at Planet Hollywood. The pageant airs live on NBC on May 16.

Sassy Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa Rivers will provide unexpected drama with their backstage zingers, with entertainment by Trace Adkins, Boys Like Girls and co-hosts Natalie Morales and Australian cooking hunk Curtis Stone.

For the next two weeks, the 51 contestants, including Miss Nevada USA Julianna Erdesz, face a grueling schedule of events, dinners, photo shoots and then rehearsals -- all leading up to the big day. We posted yesterday in Strip Scribbles a quick rundown of their schedule.

Our contributing photographers will be on duty this afternoon with me, and we’ll post their photographs as soon as possible after the official welcome.

Updated @8:13 p.m.: Our thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue for this photo gallery of arrival images. Yours truly also snapped a few shots for good measure.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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